A study by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism has found that the City accounted for £11.4m of Tory funding last year – the year in which a Tory Prime Minister was returned to Number 10 for the first time in 13 years.The research showed that the figure was just £2.7m, or 25 per cent, in 2005, the year when David Cameron became Conservative leader.
According to the study, 57 donors gave more than £50,000 to the Tories in 2010. This level of funding would entitle them to face-to-face meetings with the Prime Minister.
Michael Spencer, a former party treasurer and leading City figure, had a major impact on the party’s funding, according to the study. Mr Spencer was asked by Mr Cameron to increase the number of smaller donations of £50,000 to curb the influence of large donors such as Lord Ashcroft. The City was the obvious place where these donations were secured. The top ten City figures gave £13.16m to the Tories – 13 per cent of Central Office funding over the past five years. David Rowland, who was briefly party treasurer after the general election, was the top donor.
Two of the top City donors were granted peerages in 2010 - Stanley Fink and George Magan. The research will be of heightened interest coming as it does as George Osborne, the Chancellor, imposes an increased levy on banks to try and head off accusations that he and the Prime Minister have admitted defeat in trying to rein in bonuses.
Dr Stuart Wilks-Heeg, leading authority on political party funding at the University of Liverpool, said: “The findings raise issues about how influenced and impartial the Conservatives are as they set about reforming and regulating the banking industry. "It is admittedly difficult to prove that because parties access money from specific sources that there is a feed through into the policies they adopt. Yet, given we have just experienced a blowout in the financial system, and are witnessing an ongoing struggle over its regulation, the scale of Conservative Party funding from the City must be an issue – not least for a party committed to 'taking big money out of politics’. This is a very important piece of work.”
John Cryer MP, a member of the Treasury select committee, said: “With over half of Conservative Party funds coming from the City, it’s no wonder this Tory-led government is letting the banks off the hook. George Osborne is giving the banks a tax cut compared to last year and is refusing to adopt Labour’s plan to repeat last year’s £3.5 billion bank bonus tax as well as the bank levy. Even with yesterday’s panic announcement the Tory-led government is taking less from the banks than the Labour government did last year. And there is still no sign of a deal on increased bank lending, greater transparency and restraint on bonuses. People will now suspect that the real reason why George Osborne has been so soft is that he cannot afford to upset his paymasters.”
I guess some are more in it together than some others?
Published in todays Telegraph .
